Firebird
by Scepidilionz
Summary: When Thane is revived in a similar fashion to the way Cerberus had revived Shepard, he learns that the galaxy is not as he left it. The Reapers are gone, Cerberus is gone, and Shepard has moved on. Having no purpose for his skills now, he follows the orders of the woman who brought him back, in a quest to eliminate another great threat to the security of Council Space.
1. Risen From Ashes, The Phoenix

Blue eyes, slim face, long curly red hair slipped back into a tightly drawn pony-tail, eyes scanning, pupils small from the bright lights that lit the room, burning. His eyes burned to more he stared, squinting back shut after only a few seconds of being open, but he had still been able to see her face. His ears rang, everything felt loud and cacophonous, his head throbbed, as if about to explode under the pressure of his own blood, and he felt something missing. What could it be? Nothing was missing. But where was he, who was he. Perhaps that was what he was missing, the knowledge of himself. She was speaking to him, he could feel it pass the buzzing, but he couldn't make it out, not yet.

"It's no use, he can't hear me. Who calibrated his ears? They fucked up." She spoke, he could feel the vibrations on his metal bed. Was it metal? It was cold like metal. Perhaps a wood. "Someone ask Krios if his father was always deaf."

"Negative professor."

"Shit, well then call the otolaryngologist. I don't think he can hear me, perhaps his systems are adjusting, but that should have been accounted for when we put him in the chemical coma. Don't let Krios in yet, I don't want him to panic and go all nutso again." She paced the room, placing her thumb into her mouth, biting down ever so slightly on it, thinking. "Nobody touch him either, we can't let him go into shock."

"Ma'am, we did it, we one up'd Cerberus."

"Not yet, he's still… this. He's useless right now. And we got him in much better condition than the Lazarus project did theirs, but… we were more effective. I suppose this warrants celebrations. But we didn't do this to prove our superiority, we don't need to, it's obvious we're better than they were." She turned to face a salarian, standing tall and proud in the doorway, a smile barely tugging at his lips. "Too bad the geth turned out to be useless. But, it was a blessing we were able to restore him without cybernetics. I suppose this will do well in your research."

"It will, thank you professor."

"Ma'am, Krios is waiting for you. It would seem he hacked into the local area wireless, he wants to know why his father was awoken without his consent or knowledge."

She groaned, tossing her head back to look at the lights she had spent so long under in the past few weeks, carefully monitoring the Drell's life signs in preparation to wake him. "Tell him I'll be there in a moment, also upgrade our closed systems, I don't want him hacking in again. That's the second time this week. Heaven forbid his father hears his voice and panics for some reason. You know how dead people are- wait… that's backwards… it's the living that freak when they hear the dead. Whatever." She stepped out of the airlock, heeled boots echoing on the linoleum as she headed towards where young Krios always was, right outside the lab's doors. Just as she knew he would be there, there Kolyat was, sitting on the blue leather backless stools, legs crossed at his ankles.

"You said I could be there when you woke him up. You lied, yet again." He stood up, towering over her by at least half a foot, jaw tight with anger.

"Yes, however more recent data suggests that hearing your voice could have triggered memories too early and sent him into shock, we couldn't overload his mind too quickly, unless you would like your father to have a stroke and leave this lab a useless vegetable. Don't forget that handy little contract you signed, clause 4A, we could do whatever we wanted to the body in exchange for bringing him back to life, as long as we cured his Kepral's syndrome, which we have." She smiled up at him triumphantly, her gaze almost condescending, eyes narrowing as she placed her hands on her hips. "You also broke segment 16B… six times this month? The one that specifically stated you could not access any of our information or communication systems without the Project Head's permission, which is me, by the way."

"I wouldn't need to hack your systems if you just told me what you were doing to him!-"

"Section 23C, we don't need to tell you anything as long as the primary clauses are met. We covered all of this when you signed the contract, people really should pay attention to those before they sell their father's body."

"I am going to snap those glasses of yours-"

"I will shoot you if you so touch them. Do you know how hard it is to get lenses these days? Everyone is all about corrective surgery. I don't trust damn doctors."

"You're a doctor!"

"Technically I am a professor. See you at dinner." She turned around, her white lab coat trailing behind her as she swung the lab doors open, pausing mid-step, "And dinner will be in here tonight, I imagine you would want to dine with your father. I presume he will have regained most cognitive functions by then, until then we'll be running tests. And Kolyat, do try to knock this time, instead of hacking in. It's much easier on all of us."

He crossed his arms, looking at her pale face, "Fine. You want that Asari stuff as usual?"

"I would like him to try and eat solid foods… So get something your people eat often. Something that you ate while on Rakhana, not the stuff you adapted to on Kahje. I liked that cactus dish you made that one time, the sweet one with the nuts on it." She leaned on the door, "Does he like that?"

"I don't know Ivy, I didn't know him much as a kid. I would imagine so, I haven't met a Drell that didn't like it." He smiled as she folded her arms, looking angry, "Sorry, I know how much you hate when I address you so casually, Professor Koi."

"You do it on purpose you little brat." She smirked as she finished her revolution back into the lab, back onto the white linoleum. How sick of it she was. Everything had to be white, to be pure, so the slightest imperfection could easily be seen and scrubbed off. But nothing was perfect, so why try to make it that way. In the end, every surface had blemishes, and as much as we tried to sand them down, the smallest slip of the hand would only make even deeper craters. Imperfections are what separate individuals.

The redhead opened the door to her patient's room after everyone was gone. She was always the first to arrive and the last to leave. She couldn't risk anyone messing with her precious data, or even murdering the patient. "Thane Krios, can you hear me now? You may try and sit up as well."

His deep voice answered, echoing against all of the room's flat surfaces, the walls, tables, endless shelves that were empty other than the equipment monitoring his vital signs. "I can hear you, I have been collecting my thoughts. I feel as if I have awoken from a terrible dream, perhaps you could explain to me why I am here." He forced himself to sit up, muscles surprisingly at ease with the movement. "The last thing I remember, I was in a hospital on the Citadel saying my final prayers. I am supposed to be dead. My lungs no longer ache with every breath. Was it all a dream?"

She scanned the heart rate monitor, keeping her eyes on it, if there were any signs of cardiac arrest from shock, she would have to knock him out. She couldn't risk him dying after everything. Then the data would be ruined. "Why don't we discuss that over dinner, Kolyat should be here any minute."

"Kolyat is here?" His heart rate spiked from a brief moment at the mention of his son's name, it made him nervous, the subtle spike was just enough to make the Professor curious.

"Yes, he's getting dinner. He was the one who brought you to us… See, we have needs of your talents. He gave you to us to bring you back, in exchange for your service. Though you did get a great deal in the bargain, which I'm sure you're feeling in your lungs. Your whole race will benefit from what we were able to do here. Congratulations." She sat down on the opposite end of the room, pushing her silver rimmed glasses up the bridge of her nose. "You are living proof that we can now cure Kepral's syndrome. Sure, the treatment is quite expensive, not to mention extensive, but it can be done with genetherapy and several doses of medicines you wouldn't recognise the name of. Working on a corpse sure was beneficial, it's going to be quite painful for living patients, something we'll have to work on of course-"

"Ivy, are you trying to bore my father back to death?" Kolyat stepped into the room, a small metal box of warm food in his arms, "Please don't."

"How about you please don't joke about killing my patient. As if I would ever. This is a career breaking achievement after all."

Thane stared at his son for a moment, eyes beginning to tear up, "You brought me back, Kolyat."

The young Drell couldn't help but smile, "Actually, Professor Koi did, I just had to deal with her insanity for a few months, and her endless quotations of a contract she made me sign when I turned your body over to them, as well as having to get her dinner every night."

"Technically that was in the contract as well, see, I don't have time to cook much, and I hate eating out. There's far too many people, germs, and children, the worst of it all." She reached for the box in Kolyat's hands, which he gave to her without hesitation, and she stood up to head over to the table to cut it into small pieces for the once-dead man, rolling her neck as she did. "It sure has been a long day. Well days, actually."

"Because you don't sleep." Kolyat went to stand beside his father, taking his hands, "I am very thankful to have you back, thank Kalahua for returning you to us." He sat down after pulling a chair closer, "I suppose you have many questions."

"I do. Where are we? What happened to the reapers? Is the war still going on? What about Siha- I mean, Commander Shepard? Why did you bring me back? I appreciate the sentiment, as well as being cured, but I don't think any company would commit these resources unless there was something behind it, a meaning. The professor said she brought me back in exchange for my services." Ivy handed the food to him, gently placing a fork in his free hand, and he nodded to her in thanks.

Kolyat watch his father take a shaky bite, "Don't eat too quickly, your stomach has shrunk considerably."

"Kolyat did you hack into the research notes again?"

"Nope, just picked up some pointers from you."

Thane watched the two curiously, a bit confused at their banter. It reminded him of a few couples he had met on the Normandy. That seemed like so long ago, but he wanted answers on what had happened since he succumbed to his disease. He chewed the cacti carefully, enjoying the flavour, it reminding him of the home he never got to know.

Ivy sat down on the opposite side of the bed after handing Koylat his portion. "To answer your first question, we are on Aro, a moon of Rakhala." She looked at his face to give him time to process the answer, but he didn't seem too surprised. "The Reapers were destroyed, thanks to your team's efforts during the war. Everyone knows that it's because of their efforts that we were able to defeat the impossible, and your efforts as well."

"And Commander Shepard? DId she survive?" Kolyat smirked at how worried he was for her, he was well aware that his father was in love with the woman, but then his smile faded.

"Commander Shepard is soon to be Commander Vakarian, Garrus not too long ago, only last week I believe." Koi answered without any further hesitation, "It's all over the extranet actually, the first human and turian marriage actually. I personally do not think it's going to work out. They can't even eat the same food, can't have kids, have to deal with two different militaries every day. Their DNA isn't even made of the same amino acids."

"Chemistry isn't everything in a relationship, Ivy."

"Trust me, when a pair can kill the other just by contaminating their food, it'll blow up pretty quickly. And when the human reaches her nesting stage, and can't have a baby of her own, if they make it that long, then it'll blow up even more." She took a bite of the cactus, smiling, "You really can cook."

"Don't flatter me. Could humans and Drell reproduce? Turians and Quarians?"

"Yes and yes, they have the same number of chromosomes. Their children may be quite messed up, and most likely sterile… H'm… That should be my next experiment. Kolyat, perhaps you'll lend me some genetic material for that? Drell are so hard to come by." She giggled when she saw the young man blush, the giggle gradually becoming a hearty laugh. "I'm just kidding, that would be far too awkward."

Thane just sat and observed the conversation, a bit baffled by the conversation. Clearly neither of them had any tact. "Anyway, what do you need me for?"

"Ah, to the main point. Council Spectres are being targeted, and killed, and we need you to find out who, and get rid of them." She set her food down on the small table beside her. "Someone that isn't a spectre, but knows how they operate. Someone who has worked with them, someone just as capable. Someone they would never expect, because they've been dead for several months. You're the perfect candidate, Thane."


	2. The Firebird

The engines hummed gently as it powered up. White and blue paint, moon and starlight reflecting gently off of it. It was a small ship, passenger vessel, but it still had weapons equipped, some sort of light cannon. He had seen something like this before on the Normandy, but they weren't quite this small. The airlock opened, air wheezing out as the pressure equalized, and the professor stepped in and he followed after, feeling the gaze of his son on his back. He would be taking a passenger vessel back to the citadel, he lived there now, working with C-sec.

The inside was much more lavish than the lab, well furnished, but the same annoying white linoleum, he listened to the professor's boots echo loudly. Why she wore such tall boots, he would never know. "So, you're coming with me to hunt a spectre killer. You realise that this person is killing spectres, right? Spectres." He leaned on the wall as she adjusted the pressure systems, shutting the airlocks. "And where is your pilot? Don't tell me you're a helmsman too." He yawned, his body was tired from being dead for so long. He even rested for two days as they tested him to make sure his cognitive processes were up to par.

"I can fly actually, I can man this entire ship myself. Would I? No. My job is to help you hunt whoever it is down, and kill them. I couldn't do it alone, I tried." She shut the control panel, locking it with her security code, and Thane was able to see how well manicured her nails were as she tapped away at the screen, in the deepest shade of crimson, contrasting with the blue screen. "The pilot is probably still in the ship, he never leaves here actually. Literally lives in the cockpit. It's my ship, but I let him. He's served me well for half a decade. Name's Kyre, a Salarian."

"You remind me of Cerberus." He said bluntly, folding his arms and looking to the artificial lighting. "You're bringing people back to life and doing… well, crazy things."

"Well I assure you, we're not Cerberus. We're nothing like them. We listen to the laws of the council where applicable, and we believe in interspecies cooperation for the betterment of the entire galaxy, not just humanity." She smiled brightly, leading him into the mainroom, the engines still powering up, but the humming becoming more subtle, "Phoenix is the best organisation I have ever worked for. Ever. We get the resources and funding we need, and everything is ethical, well for the most part. If anything we do is illegal, we make sure to do it outside of council space." She sat down on the red sofa, crossing her legs, "Though I am willing to answer any questions you have about the organization."

He sat down on the synthetic brown leather across from her. It still smelled new. "I don't have questions, I'll do my job. Although I would like to know how many spectres they have killed so far."

"Seven Asari, a Turian, and two Salarians. The council has yet to investigate. It's being blamed on the dangers of the job, but there's no way so many spectres could die in such a short time. We're talking about the most highly trained individuals in the galaxy. The chances of Batarian slavers actually being able to take them down are slim to none." She held onto her chair slightly as they begin to pull out of the port, "I hate this part."

The vertigo wasn't too strong, clearly the pilot was skilled, but Koi didn't look too happy, clearly it affected her more than it did him.

He looked out the window to see the desert world his ancestors had dwelled, Rakhana. He stood up to get a closer view, fingers laying on the glass, the view taking his breath away. He could make out their more populated areas, the land stained, still visible from space. That was over eight centuries ago. He couldn't help but wonder if there were still survivors down there, or the rest of the inhabitants had wiped themselves out entirely. If the Hanar hadn't rescued the 350,000 Drell that they did, they would have ceased to exist entirely.

That terrified him.

To owe one's existence to another race, to know that their decisions could have caused his species to cease to exist entirely. That was why they owed the Hanar, it reminded him of just how fragile their lives were. How a single decision could impact such a large number of people.

"Why are they killing spectres?"

"Very likely that they're doing it to revolt against the council. We're hoping it's an individual and not an organization. It seems to be so, it's much easier for an individual to cover their tracks. If it is an organization, they're very good. Frighteningly good, better than Cerberus was." She looked up at him over her right shoulder, watching as his heart reached out to try and connect with the home he had never seen. "You don't want to go down there Krios, trust me. I took Krios Junior down there as a favour, he got sick."

"I know. It is just strange to see it. I have always considered Kahje my home, but seeing it… It makes it more alive. reminds me that the world I was told of in stories is actually real, that we really lived here almost a thousand years ago." He turned back to face her, the world shrinking behind him as he sat down, not bearing to look at it any longer. It called to him, the golden soil, crumbling infrastructure of his ancestors. He wondered where they were from before the Hanar rescued his family from so long ago, where he would have lived if the Drell had been able to sustain their life there.  
"Where do you think they'll strike next?"

"The only place they could take out three spectres with one bomb, The SR2 Normandy. It's currently docked at the Citadel, hopefully they don't move out before we can get there. I'm not sure if anyone has warned the living spectres yet, the council would be too afraid of a political blowback." She folded her arms, looking over to the closed cockpit doors, "If you want you can go talk to Kyre, I'm going to go down to the gym, the armoury is down there as well." She stood up, tapping her foot on the floor ever so slightly, nervous. He could see it, her muscles were tense, especially around the shoulders and neck. "Your cabin is on the upper deck, it has your name on the door so you can't mix it up."

"On the Normandy we had sleep pods." He stood up, looking over in the direction of where the Salarian pilot would be, "An actual bed is quite unusual for a ship."

"We have sleep pods as well, but this is a private vessel. We don't have to deal with those military regulations, the civilian versions aren't nearly as limiting." She slid her labcoat off and draped it over the couch, stretching her arms. "See you later." She headed down the hallway to the elevator, footsteps echoing loudly behind her. The way she walked reminded him of Shepard, that proud, confident gait.

Memories flashed through his head of the times he and the Commander had spent together. Beautiful memories. Violent ones, filled with blood. Moments they had spent hand in hand over his desk, discussing what trips to make after the war with the collectors was over. Trips they never got to take.

Because he died.

He didn't have the heart to meet the pilot, too much was happening right now, and above all, he felt the need to rest. That's all he felt. According to what Kolyat had told him, it was normal to be drowsy like this for the first few days.

He went up the elevator and found a metal door with green letters sprawled across the top, spelling "Thena". Clearly someone had issues spelling.

He opened the door to find a small room, furnished rather fairly. A comfortable looking bed in the far right corner of the room, a metal nightstand to the left of it, and old fashioned turian alarm clock, the dial had to be spun by hand every night to the amount of hours one wanted to wake up in, these relics weren't easy to come by these days. There were a few small manufacturers who still made them, for some breed of galactic hipsters. Apparently Ivy was among them.

He ran his fingers delicately over the soft fabric of his bed. The top sheet was crimson, like the woman's nails, the rest of the sheets and pillows were white. He almost felt like the crimson would stain their purity, like a few of the bedroom assassinations he had committed, or even the one in dead winter on Noveria.

On the left wall was the doors to a small walk-in closet, which he slid open to find a few uniforms of his size, similar to the ones he used to wear. There were even some more tradition drell clothing, and articles sold from all over the galactic community. He felt odd being presented with such gifts, they were all such high quality. It wasn't as if he had asked for them.

When he left the closet he noticed a gun on a metal desk at the foot of the bed, he walked over to it, recognising it as the sniper rifle his body had used to kill countless people. He picked it up carefully, finding it wasn't loaded, and his hands wandered instinctively to the trigger, where they had laid for countless hours on many occasions for his target to wander down the path he knew they would, before one final twitch ended their miserable life.

Now there was someone like him who was killing the defenders of justice of Council Space, and he would end them just like he had so many before.

A knock on his door snapped him out of his reverie, putting the gun back on the desk and turning to see the door being cracked open by a young Turian. The Turian was surprisingly pale, his face painted in the black lines of his home colony, and he was rather short for a Turian as well, which wasn't disguised through his armour. "Excuse me, dinner is ready… I know today has been long for you and uh… Well I made some steaks using a recipe I learned from a Drell chef, I can't eat it myself but I hear it's pretty good. I'm Ra Xycsavan, don't worry about the last name, no one can pronounce it anyway. I'm the Chef here aboard the Firebird, I wanted to welcome you aboard... "

"Ah, thank you. I am Thane Krios. Are you alright?" He had never met a shy Turian before, perhaps it was because this boy was young, because he had also never seen a young Turian. Perhaps he was scarred from the war with the Reapers as well.

"Yes, I am fine. It is just that I have never seen a Drell before. Well, I saw you when you were, um, dead. That's also pretty weird, seeing a corpse so… not dead. But Ivy assures me that you are indeed alive!" He smiled, laughing, the laugh sounding like two different colours pouring of honey pouring over each other, nothing put pure joy, another strange thing to hear from a Turian. "It's just the four of us on board now, this is a small ship after all… and I know you have some big mission defending the council in whatever way you will, I wasn't told the specifics. No one ever tells me the specifics. I think I'm trustworthy… But maybe I'm too young." He took Thane's wrist and led him back to the elevator, "Have you met Kyre yet?"

He didn't struggle, letting his body be lead by the young boy, "I have not." His enthusiasm reminded him of Mouse, so eager to please. "I have never met a Turian chef before, I thought you all had to join the military until you were thirty."

"Well, we don't, but we're not granted full citizenship if we don't. I don't exactly need citizenship when I'm all over the Galaxy with Phoenix. I also have zero skills with a gun. Kyre tried to teach me, but it just couldn't be done. He's like a dad to me, my parents died in the war on Palaven, but I was with Phoenix already at the time." He didn't seem remorseful over the loss of his blood relatives as he set the elevator controls, still holding Thane's hand. "He was with me the entire time, watching the broadcasts."

"I am sorry for your loss. I lost many friends to the reapers, though I can't imagine having lost a parent to them." It was a few seconds before the elevator doors slip open again, and the smell of well cooked meat hit his nose, sending him into a trance for a moment before the boy tugged at his arm again, leading him to a seat at the table, with food in front of it.

Ra then went back into the kitchen to cook something for himself, which didn't take long because he had apparently left it on while he went to get Thane, and he served it to himself, sitting down across from Thane, "They should be here any minute. They're likely beating up punching bags together."  
"The professor can fight?" Thane didn't start to eat, although his mouth was watering. The hanar had taught him never to eat before his employer.

"She's really skilled actually at hand to hand, she also can use a sniper, but I don't think any other gun. She's pretty scary when she gets mad too, you know, knowing that she could break my neck pretty easily." This took Thane by surprise, the woman looked to petite and frail, not like a soldier at all. Though this was a trait of many assassins he knew, and it often made them quite good at their jobs, they were never suspected for the crimes they committed unless they left too much evidence behind. "She and Kyre practice when the ship is flying itself through empty space, which we go through so we don't trigger anyone's systems. We got raided by pirates once, it wasn't fun. Fortunately Kyre was able to get them away, I don't remember much though, I was apparently knocked out."

Thane was about to pose further inquires when he heard the familiar pressurized puff of air from the elevators as they opened, and he turned his head to see the familiar red headed human and a tall black-skinned Salarian, his yellow eyes standing out as they made eye contact. He even looked more muscular than a Salarian, perhaps he was a cross breed?

Apparently the Salarian was used to being gawked at, "I'm Lystheni, tell anyone and I'll remove your tongue. You don't need it for the mission." He said, sitting down beside him. "We're banned from council space."

"Sorry, I thought you were a Salarian. Ra said you were." He said, his gaze wandering to Ivy as she sat down as well, smoothing her skirt as she did.

"That's the cover story. We're technically Salarian, from the same world, but just further south. Because we have half a population of females, unlike them, they think we're some sort of savages. War broke out, we modeled our DNA to be more like a krogan, lost the war, and ended up banned from Council Space. Fortunately most of us still look Salarian, but we also live longer, so we can't stay in one place for too long. Salarians tend to notice when we don't age like they do."

"I've never heard of Lystheni… How interesting."

"We try to keep it that way, the more people that forget about us the better." He didn't waste any time picking up his knife and cutting into his steak, "Most of us now live in the Terminus systems. Think of the view between the Salarians and the Lystheni as… Humans and Neanderthals, except equally intelligent Neanderthals."

"I see…" He nodded, though still not understanding. What in the galaxy was a Neanderthal anyway? It certainly wasn't a space-faring species that he had ever heard of. He was about to continue when they all heard the Professor's pager go off, and watched as she slid it off of her belt loop to take a peek.

She studied it for a moment, her face completely blank, not giving a slightest clue to what the message said. "Kyre, now, change course for Erroz, Theta cluster." She put the pager back where she had found it, looking across the table to the Salarian-subspecies. "Our hit man just made another mark." He rose without question, blinking from the bottom up as the sentient amphibians did, and turned around on his heels towards the elevator, Ra jumping up to follow him, yelling something about checking the engines.

"They sure are lively." Thane said, taking a bite only after she did.

"Well I just told them we were going to quite the tropical planet. It doesn't have any landmasses, it's all small islands. Beaches to be specific. Hopefully they don't get too caught up in that tourist trap." She took another bite, Thane copying her actions, which she didn't seem to notice. "Well, I feel weird eating without them. I'm going to at least bring them their food."

Thane nodded, standing up as she did, picking up Kyre's plate as she picked up Ra's. "I have missed out on many beautiful places while my soul was asleep." He followed her into the elevator, and they went up first to see Kyre, who was already at work at the pilot's controls. "Kyre, we have brought you your food."

"Ah, thank you, just leave it on my chair." It turned out Kyre was one of those bizarre pilots who liked to stand while he worked, buzzing about quickly, pushing numerous buttons, "And tell Ra to stop messing with the F9 panel, he can't fix that midflight, at least without making my job miserable." Thane put the plate down where it was requested, putting his arms behind his back as Ivy laughed.

"It's your fault for teaching him how to operate those things." She said, barely leaning on the wall, "He just wants to be helpful."

"He's brilliant. It's a shame the Turians would have squandered his intelligence behind the barrel of a gun." He paused briefly in his work, his hand hovering over a particular button."Are we squandering his intelligence behind a gun?"

The professor shook her head, "Of course not, he is learning while he's here, and he's getting to see the galaxy. You know he loves that." He was probably down stairs singing about it as they spoke, dancing and swinging his arms in the air. "Well, we're going to go give him his dinner. Have a great evening." He nodded and the pair headed out, Thane still holding Ra's plate, letting her operate the elevator controls. "So you saw your room?"

"Yes, but don't you mean 'Thena's' room?" He asked, laughing, and Ivy started shaking her head.

"Sorry, one of us must have been drunk when we put those up, I'll fix it later tonight." She smiled when the elevator opened to reveal a singing Turian. It was strange on their ears, given how Turians had two voices, the predominant one people usually focus on, and a much deeper voice hidden underneath it. The boy didn't even notice when the elevator buzzed open, and continued his songs, spinning as he calibrated the machines.

It wasn't until Koi whistled did the Turian look over, stopping mid-step. "Ah, how embarrassing." He said, blinking rapidly. "everything alright?"

"Yeah, just bringing you down your dinner. Kyre also said to tell you to stop touching the F9 panel midflight." She watched as Thane set down the food on the maintenance desk, which was never really used. "You seem excited."

"Well ma'am, I've never seen an ocean up close." He said, lowering a few panels to sit down, yawning. "Plus, I am happy to have made a new friend that can help us serve the council… Even though they don't know we exist… Y'know, to serve the better whole of the galactic community." He took a bit of his food, his stomach growling almost as loudly as the engines.

Thane blinked, a bit baffled about how quickly the boy considered him a friend, but after a brief moment he smiled, "I am happy to help. I spent my life removing evil from this world, it seems only fit that I continue." Truth be told he actually wanted to stop and relax, experience the life that he couldn't before. He had once again left Kolyat behind, only this time he would be sure to stay in touch better.

Ivy turned around towards the elevator with a yawn, "Well, I'm off to get ready for bed, try not to stay up too late, both of you."

"Yes mom." Ra said sarcastically, taking another bite, laughing as she rolled her eyes and headed into the elevator. "She's funny." He looked up at Thane, "You should head to sleep too, not to make a joke, but well…. You look like a corpse." He chuckled again, pleased with his wordplay. "I will too, but don't worry about Kyre, Salarians don't require much sleep interestingly enough. That's why he's such an awesome pilot!" He jumped up, throwing his arms in the air, accidentally flinging his food across the room. He froze in shock as the plate shattered against the wall, "Oops."

Thane turned to see the collision, "I'll get a rag… Or something."

"Nah, it's good, this happens all the time!" He exclaimed, running to pick up the glass with his bare hands, surprisingly enough, he didn't cut himself. Instead he just slid the glass into the nearest trash bin, and swept up the smaller pieces with a dustpan, and got to work cleaning up the actual food, "I'm the biggest klutz in the galaxy."

"Believe me, I have seen some pretty clumsy people, and you're fine. You're just young." He smiled, Ra was probably about Kolyat's age, or just slightly younger. He knelt down to help as best as he could, ignoring Ra's pouting face at the assistance.

"You do know it is my job to help you and the Professor, not the other way around." He gently took the rag from Thane's hands, getting back to work, "And it's your job to kill the bastard who's going around killing the arm of the council, and make sure she doesn't die. You HAVE to make sure she lives, got it?" The met each other's gaze, and Thane could easily see the determination in the Turian's eyes, "There's so much she still has to do in her life, she's going to help a lot of people, and she can't do that if she's dead. We were able to bring you back, the the success rate for that kind of procedure is extremely low."

"I promise to keep her alive." The Drell said calmly, he could see the concern in Ra's eyes. He cared for her, that much was certain.

"But you have to stay alive too. We can't do this on our own. She can't fight much. That's your job… Just… If it seems like you're in danger, get out of there. There will always be a second chance to take this guy out. As long as there are spectres he'll keep going after them." They finished the cleanup, and Ra helped Thane up, extending a hand, which he took gratefully. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow. Did someone how you where the showers are?"

"No, are they on the same floor as the cabins?" He questioned, to which Ra nodded, stating that they would be at the end of the hallway on both sides, and that they didn't have male and female showers to double check to make sure it wasn't occupied, and after a brief nod Thane headed up to the showers, hearing the one on the right side of the hallway as on, he went to the one on the left.

The controls were easy enough to operate, so after he slipped his clothes off he stepped into the water, rinsing the toxic membrane that all Drell produced off of his skin. His instincts told him not to breathe in the steam, but given his Kepral's syndrome was cured, he fought that urge, letting the steamy air fill his lungs, enjoying how it soothed his throat and nose.

He let the water jet massage his back, reaching a hand to rub his neck, his mind replaying the events of the day with his perfect memory. Things he had missed the first time, he was able to notice now, the subtle things. Glances exchanged that he hadn't noticed, small ticks in his shipmate's behaviours.

He reached back to turn off the water when he had finished analysing what he hadn't seen before, looking at the clock, surprised that it had been an hour. He picked up his clothes, damp from the humidity, and wrapped a towel around himself, stepping into the corridor. He was surprised to see Ivy rearranging the letters on his door to spell his name correctly. She looked over to him when she heard his quiet footsteps, unphased that he was in a towel, and she in a simple night dress. "Ah, I thought you would be asleep by now."

He shook his head, reaching for the doorknob, "I was absorbed in my memories in the shower, I didn't realise time had passed."  
"Ah that's right, Drell have perfect memories." She backed up from the door to give him space to open it, having completed her task of fixing the letters.

"Yes, we do. I often review the events of the day before going to bed." He opened the door, setting his clothing down on the bench by the door. "Well, I shall be going to sleep now."  
"I as well, have a great sleep." She said with a smile, turning on her heels to head to her cabin, her footfalls completely silent.

Turns out bare feet didn't clang on linoleum like her boots did.


	3. Erroz

Early morning sky. Pink oceans, the sun was reflecting off of it as it rose higher into the sky. The sand was almost pure white, almost. Areas of it were stained pink from the natural colour of Erroz's sea life. Crowds were beginning to form along the shore line, big enough to where he could make out their shapes. There seemed to be some sort of party going on, a celebration. He picked up his old sniper to look down the scope to get a better look.

They were certainly hardly wearing any clothing. The men were all topless, and the women had their midriffs exposed, wearing small skirts. Well, given it was an island full of beaches, this was to be expected after all.

He set the sniper back down back on the table while he looked through the wardrobe that had been prepared for him. He certainly couldn't go in there in full armour, he would stand out too much. Surely there would be something in there he could wear on a beach…

A beach, if only Kolyat could see it. It had sand like a desert, but there was so much water. He would have to take pictures with his omni tool to send to him, he would love it. Did Kolyat travel much? What kind of places did he favour?

He eventually did manage to find a pair of black swim trunks, which he slipped on immediately. The fit perfectly. Perhaps Pheonix had taken his measurements while they were reviving him, it would only make sense, given everything in the closet seemed to be tailored for him.

The only problem would be that with so little clothing, there would be no space to hide a weapon. If they did run into the assassin, he would be forced to rely on hand-to-hand combat, unless Ivy had some sort of plan. Judging by everything the others had said about her, she likely did. But there was no sense on relying on a single person, he would have to come up with something himself just in case. Perhaps he could stow the weapons somewhere beforehand for easy retrieval… but where?

He stepped back to the window, scanning the area for any clue that could spark his mind. They could always bury their weapons in the sand, but there was a chance that they could get clogged and not work when they needed them to most. That was something he had learned on one of his first jobs, fortunately he had also been taught to always have a backup.

It was then that he heard a knock on the door, "You may enter."  
He was greeted by Kyre, who had pistols and some sort of straps. "Here, your weapon for today. The Professor doubts that there will be engagement, but wants us to be armed anyway. The only person who won't be armed his Ra." He handed Thane the pistol and the strap, "You strap it around your thigh, underneath your swimming trunks. There's a waterproof plug in it that will come out when you fire it, but try not to get it too wet."  
"Isn't it dangerous that Ra won't have a weapon? He should at least have a spare in case one of ours don't work." He attached the pistol to the strap, setting it on the bed. "He's not that much of a klutz… hopefully."  
"He shot himself in the foot last time we gave him a gun… Literally. Of course he didn't mean to, somehow the safety ended up being turned off, and I don't know what happened from there." He headed back towards the door, "See you in the main room when you're ready, try not to take too long. The miss doesn't like to be kept waiting, especially while our killer runs wild." He turned around and left. Thane could tell that he was quite the serious individual.

He quickly secured the pistol and the belt to his inner thigh as instructed, carefully inspecting the gun to make sure it wouldn't fire on him. He then threw on a coat to cover his chest, feeling quite bare roaming around such a nice ship half undressed. The hall was empty, so he went straight to the elevator, operating the controls like he had seen Ivy do. He even remembered her password from when they went down to the engine room. Perhaps there were more places he could access using that password, but that was an adventure for another day.

The others were waiting in the main room. Ivy was lounged on her red chair, Kyre standing beside her, watching the Turian standing at the window, gawking out of it, Ra's face pressed against the glass. The woman looked about to doze off, slumped against the side of her chair. There were bags under her eyes that she had tried to cover with makeup, but Thane could see right through that. Kyra was fine, as Salarians, and their subspecies in this case, only needed an average of an hour of sleep per night. Judging by how much Ra was jumping, he had slept well and was fully prepared for the day.

Thane cleared his throat, and the others became aware of his presence. Ra jumped for the Drell, pulling him into a hug, "We're gonna see an ocean!" He then released Thane, jumping back off towards the window. Thane stared for a moment, a bit baffled.

"Well if anyone is going to help us look like tourists, it's Ra-"

Kyre interrupted her, "We're a group of four different species, I'll be surprised if we don't get caught right away. That's why I truly suggest we take my plan."

"Your plan exposes you and Ra. He can't shoot."

"Yes, but it leaves you and Thane mobile. I'm not exactly an assassin. We'd also be less likely to get caught."

"You do realise even holding hands with a Drell can cause humans to break out in terrible rashes, right? I'd have to be on immunosuppressants, which aren't exactly a good idea when travelling on a planet with foreign species, and foreign bacteria. Acting as if we were on some sort of honeymoon… and I'm barely clothed…" She pulled at her sarong. It was longer than the ones the other girls at the beach were wearing, it's black and blue fabric stopping just below her knees. "I'd have rashes everywhere. I should have neutralized that damn venom in the lab."

Thane moved closer to the group, standing on the plush black rug, his arms folded gently behind his back, "If it is any comfort, I rinsed off the membrane last night-"

"It's a membrane?!" She jumped up for a very brief moment, before plopping back down, "You all do realise if I somehow end up ingesting the stuff, I'll hallucinate. You do know that, right? I don't have the metabolism of a Salarian to clear it out of my system that quickly, nor the Dextro-proteins of the Turians for the toxin to bypass me altogether. I could end up putting all of you in danger if-"

"Ma'am, I've never seen you so flustered-"

"If you interrupt me one more time I'll make you a woman."

Kyre sighed, looking to Thane, "I suggested that you two scout the beach, pretend to be a lovey dovey happily married couple, which Ra and I line the shops."  
Thane nodded, though he sensed Ivy had some sort of hang up about it, and he doubted it was the membrane. "It'll work, but just who are we looking for?"

The professor sighed, getting up and composing herself with a stretch, "Who ever is tailing Mister and Miss Vakarian, and Kaidan Alenko. The Normandy is here for some reason… and if we can along the way… I would like to know why." She finished one final stretch, and motioned for Ra to come over, but the boy didn't see her wave at him, as he was far too preoccupied with that was happening along the shoreline. "But Thane, do try not to interact with them too much.."

"You're concerned my judgement will be compromised because of the Commander, I assure you, I will remain completely partial. Though how can we be sure the assassin will come here?" Shepard was here. I wouldn't admit it, but he still loved her. He was happy that she had moved on, and especially that she had chosen someone he trusted as much as he did Garrus, but the thought of her being with anyone else still unnerved him, but who was he to claim her? He had died after all. "Do we have any leads at all on who this assassin might be?"  
"We think this will be a top priority to whoever they are, to take down three spectres that undoubtedly thwarted the Reapers. Especially Shepard. Her head is worth a lot of money." She paused, her mind running, trying to remember any clues they may have come across. "They leave so little evidence behind, we really have no idea who the assassin may be, so we have to be alert."  
Thane nodded, and once they had double checked that they had everything that they could possibly need, they headed out the airlock, straight onto the sand. Once they got to the trees just before the shoreline, they split into the two teams. Ivy seemed particularly nervous. "You're pretty bad at pretending to be in love with me." He joked, watching her face for a reaction, but there wasn't one.  
"Sorry, I need to focus. We need to find-"  
"Don't say their names, let me handle it." He smiled, taking her hand. It wouldn't to do blow their cover by acting distant after all. Holding her hand, he could feel how sweaty her palm was. She really was nervous. Perhaps it had been too long since she had been out on the field, if she had been at all. She was a professor, perhaps she was self taught in all of the skills he had heard about. Hand-to-Hand combat, wielding a sniper rifle. If he remembered correctly what Kyre had told him, which he always did remember correctly, she wasn't too good with weapons for closer range, like the pistol underneath her skirt.

That had to be what was making her nervous. She was scared of getting in a firefight.

"Honey, you may tell me if you are not feeling well. I can tell you barely slept a wink too… I would hate for you to hurt yourself." The felt the terrain beneath his feet change as they stepped onto the fine white sand, "Perhaps we should get something to drink."

"I'm feeling fine, it's just it's so damn hot out here, Darling." She glared up at him from behind her smile, ordering him not to say one more word on her condition. She would be fine. He was just a man, she needn't get so worked up, although apparently he had misinterpreted how she was feeling to be a physical illness. Typical man, even alien men couldn't seem to understand women. "Perhaps we could just walk the shore. I want to pick up some seashells."

Water would wash off the membrane. So apparently that was what was bothering her so much. He couldn't really blame her. Some humans even turned out to be particularly allergic to it. "Sounds good, but I doubt we'll be able to find anything near all of these people. We should walk up for a bit until we see something." They would definitely not be able to spot any of the Spectres here, let alone peg who was possibly tailing them. There was a lot of cover for an assassin to take here.

"Sounds good. I hear quartz washes up on the sands often, there are a lot of gems underneath the ocean here, quite literally. Perhaps tomorrow we could swim down there and get some samples!" Her eyes lit up like a child who just received a new toy, "I would love to study the gems, perhaps some water got trapped in them and preserved some sort of microscopic life! I'm sure it's been tested for that dozens of times, but… I want to!" She looked up at him, eyes sparkling with the thought of something new to experiment on, but then she remembered their mission. The assassin, and the fact that she was holding hands with… "But perhaps we should stick to the seashells."

He pulled her closer and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, smiling, "Well perhaps we could find a bit of quartz along the shoreline along with the seashells."

She nodded with a sigh, and he returned his grip to her hand, and they headed further up the beach. Her wristband never vibrated, which meant that Ra and Kyre still hadn't found any of the spectres. Maybe they had gotten sidetracked by a gift shop. Knowing Ra, it wasn't impossible, and Kyre would do anything for the boy.

They got to an empty part of the beach, there were no civilians there, except two asari lounging underneath the trees towards the end of the sand. Ivy let go of Thanes hand to run her fingers in the water, pulling out a small amethyst crystal,holding it up to the sun, "Pretty huh?"

He stepped forward, kneeling beside her, "It is rather pretty… Think there are any of those water pockets in it?"  
She shook her head, still smiling at it, "It's way too small, and see how light the purple is? That means there is low iron where this was formed, and considering a lot of the iron was mined here about a couple hundred years ago, it's relatively safe to say that this formed around this time, and got dislodged at the start of the tourism boom." She twirled it in between her fingers, watching as the light caught the stone in different ways. "It's still very pretty-"  
"Thane?"  
The Drell in question looked up towards the voice that he knew oh so well. The voice he would never forget, especially when he heard his name carried by it, "Siha-" He cleared his throat, "Commander-"

Shepard reached up to cover her mouth, seeing his face, confirming that it really was him. "You're… You're dead. There's no way. I was at your funeral Thane…"

"I was dead… but… It's complicated." He bit back his words as soon as he said them, seeing the pain and grief on her face. She was reliving her loss of him, "Jane… I'm sorry. I wanted to tell you, but I found out about you and Garrus, I didn't want to hurt you or him. You two deserve to be happy together…"  
Shepard wasted no time running up to Thane, pulling him close, collapsing into the sand, "I'm just happy that you are alive…"

Garrus cleared his throat, making eye contact with Ivy, both feeling rather awkward. "Perhaps we should give them some space. Jane, Thane, we'll be over there at that..." His eyes scanned the shoreline for the nearest establishment, "Bakery? Is that a bakery?"

Ivy stood up, looking at the crying woman with pure sympathy, "That's a confectionery, which is kind of like a bakery. They sell sweets. I'm guessing they also sell local foods… Thane, if you need me, I'll be over there." She followed Garrus, not looking back or speaking until they were a distance away. "This must be particularly awkward for you."

Garrus sighed, but there was a faint smile on his lips, "You have no idea. I know how much they cared for each other, and I also know I could never replace him in her heart. I imagine you feel the same."

Ivy covered her cheeks as blood rose to them in a blush, "We're not a thing… We're colleagues, kinda, well… He works for me."  
"You hired an assassin, and then took him out to a tropical resort? Odd choice. Especially the dead assassin thing. I'd hate to know what you're up to."

"You brought a military ship designed for stealth to a tropical resort, sounds like you're in an equal pickle."

"A pickle?" He looked at her puzzled, opening the door to the confectionary for her, which she gratefully accepted and headed in.  
"You know… Like being in a jam… Ugh that's not any better It's a human idiomatic expression, meaning to be in some sort of trouble." They sat down on a pair of barstools.

"I see, but why a pickle?" He questioned, generally curious. At least Turian expressions made sense, humans had ones about fish in barrels. Who puts fish in barrels?  
"Because a pickle is trapped inside a jar I guess. It can't get out on its own." She called the waitress over for a pair of Shirley Temples, "But then again, it's a pickle. Not like it could get out of the jar anyway."

He laughed, looking out the window to see the two on the beach, "Well what has an assassin and his employer out here. Especially… An employer that works for Phoenix." He looked back at her, taking a sip of the drink that had been remade for Turians. Science certainly had come far these past few years in terms of genetically altered food.

"My being with Phoenix has… Well very little to do with it. We're not Cerberus, we won't make their same dumb mistakes. Second, I'm actually Firebird, a subdivision of Phoenix that specializes in the application of genetic engineering into combat situations." She popped the cherry from her drink into her mouth, trying to ignore the sense of suspicion radiating off of the spectre. "And we're here… Well, you and your fiance are in danger. As well as Kaidan Alenko."

He laughed again, this one way more sincere than the last, "You mean to tell me three spectres on shore leave to a resort like this are in danger. That's a joke."

"Someone has been assassinating spectres." She whispered, leaning in towards him to ensure no one would hear, albeit there was no one else present in the room. "The council has yet to take action, fearing social distress if the public learns its most highly trained individuals are being killed en masse. But we believe you're next, because as of right now, this little planet has the highest concentration of spectres in the galaxy."

This definitely seemed to have gotten the Turian's attention, as he wasted no time getting off the bar stool and looking outside, "So you followed us here in an attempt to find him and take him out. Do you even know who the assassin is? If they're targeting spectres, there would have to be evidence of a fight at the scenes. There's no way spectres would go down quietly."

"I'm now going to lie, we have no idea who this person is. That's why we were following you, although you found us first." She paused, watching him watch his fiance. He obviously wasn't going to take his eyes off of her now, "All of the victims died in different manners, although what was always consistent is that how they died was the statistical majority for murders in that system. Which contradictorily, is a statistical abnormality across so many victims. So whoever it is knows the numbers, but not well enough to account for their little slip up. That would lead me to think a rogue C-sec agent, but there's no way someone from C-sec could take out spectres this easily."

"There's only one group with that kind of power." His eyes narrowed at the thought of it. There was no way someone from within had restarted the organization.  
"Yes, but your lovely lady made sure they were completely destroyed." She checked the records. There was not a single facility still in operation.

He cleared his throat, finishing his drink in one giant gulp, eyes locked on Shepard. "There's no other explanation, it has to be Cerberus."


	4. Reunion

"Thane, I'm just so happy that you are well. Even if... Even if you're risking your life like this again." Shepard wiped the tears out of her eyes, sighing, looking into his deep black eyes, where she could faintly make out his green irises hidden in their darkness. "And Kolyat? Please tell me he knows." She took Thane's hands into hers, rubbing them gently, unable to take her eyes away from his face. "And your girlfriend seems very nice by the way..." She had moved on, it only made sense that Thane should too. Whatever they had died when well... when he died.

Thane smiled, looking at her hands. They seemed so gentle now that the fight with the reapers was over. Back on on the Normandy, it always seemed like they were cut somewhere or bruised, it had taken quite a toll on her. "Kolyat was the one that brought me to Phoenix, the group that brought me back. And well, the Professor... She's not mine, rather she seems terrified of me." He sighed, looking back to where her footprints were being washed away by the gentle rolling waves behind him. "She's also my employer, that would be quite a breach in professionalism."

"Professionalism never stopped you and me." She pulled his face back to look at her. "Why is she afraid of you? Other than the whole assassin thing." She let his hands go, she didn't want to pull him back into anything. She couldn't. She loved Garrus, and Thane had been gone for so long Thane would be gone again, he couldn't sit still, that's not who he was as a person. She knew him well enough to know that. "You'll win her heart if you want to, Thane."

He cleared his throat, trying to get her off the subject, but it only made her look up even more worried, "Did they not cure your Kepral's Syndrome?! Don't move, open your mouth!" She leaned forward to look into his throat, but he laughed, "Stop moving!"

"The Kepral's Syndrome is long gone. It was indeed cured, in fact the research used to cure me is going to be used to cure other Drell." He smiled, thinking of all the lives in the end that it would save. It would be able to keep the Drell on Kahje, even though he personally felt the Drell should leave to take another homeworld of their own, as much as he loved the Hanar, he felt his kind should become more independent.

She sighed in relief, "I was going to call them morons for bringing back someone with a terminal illness... But it seems they did a good thing. But what is your mission here? I doubt you're here on shore leave." The look in his eyes told it all, that he could not say what he was doing here, "Thane, you can tell me."

He sighed, whispering, "I cannot, if I did, it may foil our purpose-"

That was when he saw Ivy running out of the confectionery, waving her arms at him, and he jumped up, pulling Shepard with him, "I have to go, please Jane, stay safe, for once in your career." He ran up to meet Ivy, "Got a notification?"

She grabbed his wrist and began to pull him in the direction her wrist band indicated. "They spotted Alenko. Undoubtedly the assassin will take him first-"

"This better not be speculation-"

"You said you wouldn't let your past get in the way of this. She will be fine, out of everyone in the galaxy I think she can take care of herself the best." She released his arm, now sure that he would follow, having reminded him of his duty, and fell fell silently into step. "If the assassin really is after Kaidan, which I firmly believe he is, then Ra and Kyre are in danger. I know they'll do anything to help us on this mission, which to be blunt, terrifies me."

"I've seen many good people die when they still had work to do, do not worry, I shall make sure nothing happens to them." He said, perhaps he wasn't really what was worrying her, or even getting in a firefight. Perhaps she was worried about the others more than anything, it sure would seem that way now. She and Kyre did seem pretty close... Did she love him?

"Thanks, but your job is making sure that assassin never gets another mark. I'll worry about my colleagues." She reached her arm out in front of him to stop, using her other hand to push up her glasses, as if moving them that slightly would help her see better. She was now whispering, "I see them, and I see the spectre."

It was pretty easy to make them out, they were near the fountain in the plaza. Ra was talking to some Asari vendour selling candied fruits, Kyre being serious as usual, observing Kaidan while not being too obvious. Judging by how calm Kyre was, he firmly believed that an assassin wouldn't have seen them yet.

But if this assassin was able to take out spectres so easily, nothing could be believed.

Thane looked back when he heard a familiar Human and Turian pair running up behind them. Neither spoke, they could tell by the air the Phoenix associates carried that something was about to go down, and they were going to figure out what. It was no doubt that Garrus had informed his fiance of what Ivy had told him, judging by the knowing look on her face, so he simply nodded at the two of them, and turned his attention back to the completely unaware spectre sitting on the fountain edge, looking at the sky.

What a perfect place to die, a beautiful sunny world, so far away from any problems the galaxy might throw at him.

Less than a minute later, a human girl came to sit beside him. She looked like a native, her skin glowing tan, unlike a certain lab professor Thane knew, and her hair a shimmering golden blonde. Though it was fake, one could tell by the roots that were starting to show their natural colour. She appeared to be an innocent girl, but that didn't ease any of their minds. Although it came as a lot of shock when the two appeared to be hitting on one another.

The girl fell back into the water, pushed by a bullet entering her shoulder, the spectre jumping to help her, pulling her out of the water, "Don't worry, I'll get you some help." Kaidan scanned the area, searching for anyone with a gun, landing his eyes on Kyre, pulling his weapon out, aiming it at the Salarian, "Who are you and why did you shoot an innocent woman? As a council spectre, I am taking you into custody."

Kyre didn't lower his weapon, quickly scanning for any signs of danger. He saw Thane and Ivy rush onto the scene, their weapons out as civilians rushed out of the commons. He also recognised the Heroes of the Citadel alongside them. "You nimwit, she was hit from the front and pushed back into the water, I was standing behind you. It would be physically impossible for me to take that shot."

"Kaidan, they're allies." Garrus said, his rifle out, and they finally heard the boom from the shot. "Wherever this assassin is, he's one hell of a sniper. That was at least a mile away."

Koi looked towards the once place a sniper could get a clear shot from that distance, and her eyes landed on a tall island out in the ocean, its rocks completely bare, where there were no trees to get in the way of a bullet. "There. And whoever they are, it won't be easy for them to get off, unless they have shuttle."

"Let's slip up. Mix teams, I'm not taking any chances, especially since you know somethings we don't. Garrus, you go with Thane, Kaidan, and that boy. I'll take the other two." Shepard said, her lover nodding in agreement.

"Woah woah woah, this is a Phoenix operation. I understand you're the godly Shepard and all, but I don't let people order around my team." Koi met the Commander's gaze, knowing this was a battle she would lose, "Thane,Go with Garrus and Kaidan. Kyre and I will go with the commander. Thane, keep them safe, and take that bastard out if you can, and take the body. Ra stay here and treat the girl."

Shepard narrowed her eyes at the defiance, but knew the young woman had to let her team know that she was still in control, a very reasonable leadership tactic, though leading through pure power wouldn't get her anywhere when she really needed it. "Alright, let's go."

"Wait, we need two routes. Thane, take a boat there. Go around the back, there are rocks for cover, stay in them or you'll be in perfect range to be taken out. Shepard, We'll take my shuttle. So when the assassin tries to flee, they'll be cornered by Thane's squad. It's the best way." If there was one thing Koi had over Shepard in this situation, it was that she was completely brilliant. Not to mention an undefeated chess champion.

"Sounds good." Thane and Garrus said in unison, running off to commandeer a boat closest to the island, since they had Garrus's spectre authority.

Shepard, Ivy, and Kyre ran back to the Firebird, Kyre instantly falling into the pilot seat and taking off. "Does this thing have shields?" Shepard questioned, noting that a skilled sniper could shoot an unshielded shuttle straight out of the sky.

The professor laughed nervously, "Unfortunately not at the moment. They were taken down by Batarian pirates last time we had to deploy the shuttle, and I haven't found a mechanic capable of fixing them."

"Great." Shepard looked out the shuttle window. It would only be a few seconds before the were shut down, or landed on the island. "I hope your pilot is good."

"If I may say so, I'm one of the best." Kyre smirked, pure pride in his voice "Flying a shuttle is also way more fun. Computers do most of the work in a ship, here it's all on the pilot."

"You're the one who got us shot down last time!"

"What can a shuttle do against a Batarian Pirate ship!"

"Well, maybe if you had flown faster!"

"It's a damn shuttle, how fast do you think these things can get while being safe?!"

"Oh please spare me the romantic melodrama." Shepard sighed, and they pulled into a landing. Perhaps the sniper was already fleeing and didn't have time to shoot. Or maybe he had only brought one bullet, which was ridiculous.

Both yelled in unison as the shuttle door slipped open, "We're not together!"

They wasted no time rushing out of the shuttle, weapons in hand. Ivy had taken the time to exchange her pistol to a weapon she was far more comfortable with, a Viper sniper rifle. "Now the hunt really begins."

"We can't even have a shore leave without some kind of drama." Kaidan said, helping Thane steer the boat while Garrus navigated. "I can't even hit on a girl without her getting shot. I'm sensing a trend you know."

"Perhaps you should swing for the nearest male- Oh wait, no, not me." Thane pulled the steering wheel towards him. The thing was stiff from years of being out in the water, rust was caked around the inner rod, making it very difficult to move. "It's good to see you living though. I can't believe he missed."

"You mean it's good to see you living, I was at your funeral. I was sure you'd stay dead. Someone pulled a Shepard it seems." The pair desperately tried to keep the boat from slamming into the gargantuan pillars of rock, but Garrus singing the theme from The Titanic wasn't helping to ease their worries of capsizing a mile out at sea. "Garrus, please."

"What? Singing calms my nerves." He continued his song, albeit a bit more quietly.

"You couldn't pick any other song? You had to pick the one from the movie about the sinking boat." Kaidan scanned up ahead, looking for any signs of movement. He could see a shuttle had landed, and assumed that to be the other woman's shuttle. "So Thane, who is that woman, the one calling the shots on your end."

Thane saw the firebird's shuttle land, to his relief, and sighed. "Professor Ivy Koi, the woman who brought me back to life."

"Well I get that, but what's she like? Not that I'm going to hit on her. She'd only end up getting shot anyway." The group was launched into the air as the boat hit a rock underneath them, and they all slammed back into the metal, "Garrus, you're supposed to be watching for those!"

"I'll never let go, Jack!" The Turian joked, earning a glare from the other two men, "Sorry. I'll pay more attention." He rubbed his shoulder, which had come in contact with the boat as he fell. "But do talk about this woman of yours, Thane. I only spoke to her briefly."

"Well, she's not my woman to start. I've only known her for a few days. Though I suppose she's known me longer. But if I had to speak of what I knew of her, I would only say that she is very determined, especially to know everything she can, but yet she also appreciates beauty and art." He only really had compliments for her, he didn't really see any flaws in her character. But everyone had flaws, eventually they would become clear to him, there was no such thing as a perfect individual.

They arrived along the shoreline, and hopped out of the boat, making sure that they all had their weapons with them. "Now, let's assassinate the assassin."

Both teams raced up the side of the mountainous island, running towards the very top, where they suspected the sniper would be.

"Hey Shepard, Kyre, there's something I don't understand." The red-headed professor asked, stopping in her tracks, looking to the other two, her mind racing, trying to piece the few clues she had been given together. "Why would someone who killed about a dozen spectres... Miss such a clear shot? Even at his distance, a good sniper with a powerful scope would make it easy. And there's no wind at all today... " She closed her eyes for a very brief moment, before her mind finally put all of the clues together. Her eyes snapped open, running towards where the other group would be, "It's a trap, stop! Stop!" She screamed, feeling like her throat would burst from the volume, "Stop!"

Shepard and Kyre ran after, not taking a moment to reconsider what she was saying. They had to stop the others before they got to the top of the island.

"Thane, what is that, on the cliff's edge." Garrus pointed to a tripod shaped object at the edge of the cliff in front of them, "I can't quite make it out."

Thane took cover behind a large, sharp rock, peeking out from behind it at the object. "It looks... almost like a turret..."

"STOP!"

in that single second at least a dozen bullets were fired at them, from seemingly everywhere, their blood curdling whistles piercing the air before even the sound of gunfire could be heard, carried by the calm and clear gust of wind that signalled a coming storm.


	5. Lies

They were all huddled together behind that sharp rock, and they would have inevitably died there if it wasn't for a glowing blue bubble encompassing them. Ivy slowly opened her eyes when she realised she wasn't dead, to find herself in a familiar drells arms, pressed up against the rock. She met his gaze for a brief moment before looking to see Kyre, holding up a perfect biotic barrier, the bullets suspended in midair within its shield. "Kyre…"

"Don't waste any time ma'am, get your gun and find the bastard. I can't hold this barrier forever." He closed his eyes to focus all of his energy outward, maintaining the barrier that was keeping his friends and comrades alive. He could hear the group loading their weapons and turning their safeties off, which brought him great comfort. "Is anyone hurt?"

"No, Kyre, we're all alive and well, thanks to you." Shepard loaded her assault rifle, heading to the edge of the barrier, "Does anyone see any-"  
Just then a roar of a shuttle engine was heard, and the group saw the firebird's shuttle take off, speeding away at speeds faster than they knew a shuttle could, "No, not my baby!" Lyre called, looking at the shuttle, "He turned off the safety caps, he's gonna fry the engine! Nooooo!"

Ivy knelt to the ground, peering down her scope, "I can get him, I can." She took a deep breath, exhaling as she pulled the trigger, and the bullet went cascading towards the shuttle. She closed her eyes and prayed for a mark that she knew she wouldn't get. There were too many variables. The speed of the shuttle, which was gradually accelerating. the unsteady changes of wind speed, and the centripetal force of her own bullet. "Please tell me it hit, Thane, Kyre, anyone."

"I'm sorry, there was no way any of us could have made that shot. He's already out of the atmosphere." Garrus knelt down to look at her, still clutching onto her gun, "It was still quite the impressive shot, we can talk about who taught you to shoot later."

"Did someone at least get a good look at him?" She set her gun down, too ashamed to look at anyone, "I'm so sorry, I should have seen it sooner. It was so obvious it was a trap, I'm so sorry." She closed her eyes, forcing back the tears that begged to be released, and the soreness of her throat.

Shepard stood beside Garrus, looking down at Ivy, "Look, none of us would have caught it in time. If you hadn't when you did, it's very likely that Garrus, Thane, and Kaidan would be dead. Let's be thankful for that. We can track the bastard who did this down and make him regret the day he started taking down spectres for sport. Let's just get back to the ship… err… which ship"

"I could try hacking into the shuttle's interior cameras from the firebird. I suggest we go there, that way at least we can have an idea of who we're up against." Kyre said, dropping the barrier, falling to a knee, panting. It had been quite some time since he had used his biotics, and it was obviously taking a toll on him more than he thought it would. "But… We will not be able to fit all of us on that boat. We'll have to make two trips."

Kaidan nodded, "Kyre, Ivy, and Shepard should go first, that way you can get to the firebird and have everything set up by the time the rest of us get there. I'll pilot the ship both ways."

Ivy nodded in agreement, finally looking up at the others, "Yes, a sound plan. You make sure to pick up Ra as well, he'll hopefully be done treating the girl by the time you arrive on the shore." She looked at Kyre, eyes filled with worry. He didn't look nearly as lively as he usually did, if that word could ever be used to describe him. "Kyre, please rest on the boat."

"Ma'am, I will be fine. Please, let's get going. The sooner we get there, the more likely I'll be able to access those cameras." He stood up, hiding the shaking in his legs well, walking over to pull Ivy up. "Don't make me carry you."

"I would shoot you." She got up, thanks to his assistance, "See the rest of you on the ship. Oh, and do try not to bring any bugs. I'll be doing a security sweep after you leave." She bent down to pick up her gun, switching the safety back on, ashamed to be holding it, knowing that had she hit her mark it would have saved the lot of them a whole lot of trouble.

* * *

Kyre locked himself in the computer lab to be left alone while he worked, and so that left Shepard and Ivy in the main room, Ivy hunched over in her chair, head in her hands, thinking over all the mistakes she had made. She would certainly never make those mistakes again, ever, for as long as she lived.

Shepard watched her curiously. The woman seemed completely oblivious to her presence, "So, how is Thane?"

"The perfect patient. He recovered even better than expected, even though he's still in the recovery phase. He's reflexes should be slower than they are, and his speech should be slightly impaired, but neither is true. Even his thoughts are collected, from before he died as well. It's remarkable." She sat up, leaning back against the chair, the thought of her research on the Drell having distracted her from her solemn thoughts. "Kolyat said he was quite a good soldier, but I thought that was just a son idolising his father. I cannot wait to see what he will be at full recovery."

She shook her head, thoughts of a certain Salarian researcher coming to mind. Mordin would have gotten along well with Ivy. "I meant how is he doing, personally. Does he seem comfortable here? Stressed? Is he adjusting well?"

"He'll be fine. He gets along well with Ra and Kyre, which is good. He seems quite comfortable in his room too, and knows where everything is well enough, given his perfect memory. I think he'll do well here. He's also keeping in touch with Kolyat, I heard them promise to send each other pictures every day." She smiled, remembering all of the nights she had spent with Kolyat, he would talk about his father every chance he could. They had certainly become great friends over those few months.

Shepard smiled, eyes growing soft for a moment. Koi didn't know it yet, but she had feelings Thane. Perhaps because she had brought him back, and probably spent a great deal of time around his lifeless body. But Shepard could hear it in her voice when she spoke of him, and she was positive that Thane felt it too. She sensed it that moment on the beach, when he had looked back to where she had been sitting, almost longingly. "Ivy, you should take some Liechroot so those rashes don't develop from being near Thane, it certainly saved my dozens of those… ugh, they're awful."

"I've already been taking it. I have been since Kolyat signed that contract for me to bring him back, but I wasn't aware of how effective it would be."

"Very. On occasion you'll still get them, but they won't be nearly as bad. It'll be like a mild mosquito bite." She looked up when she heard the airlock open, and the rest of their party came in, "Well if it isn't the nerd patrol." She chuckled softly, folding her hands together. "We're still waiting on her pilot, he hasn't come out yet."

"Neither has Kaidan, come to find out. He's so far in the closet, he's in Narnia." Garrus laughed, nudging the other spectre, who just grumbled about the fact that the majority of women he flirted with getting shot was a complete coincidence. It probably was, but that didn't mean that they weren't going to make jokes about it.

Ra popped out from behind the group, holding the human girl's hand, "Professor, can Emma stay? I fixed up her shoulder! She offered to help clean up the ship!" He smiled, dragging the human girl into the room, earning a very puzzled look from Ivy. surprised to see him drag another human onto the ship.

"She has to ask her parents. Make sure they know about the pirates, and that she'll be on a ship with several assassins." She yawned, hoping that would scare any parent half to death.

"Okay!" He smiled, and the two ran out laughing, earning more puzzled looks from the rest of the group, especially Garrus, who was wondering how a Turian could be so… giddy.

It was then that the airlock to the computer room opened, and Kyre stepped out, handing a file to his boss, "Look at the shoulder." He spoke calmly, though the pressure from having used his biotics was quickly sending him to the brink of exhaustion.

Ivy pushed her glasses up, though she still squinted to look at the assassins one exposed shoulder that the camera barely captured before it had been shot in a forcible attempt to deactivate it. There was a familiar black diamond, slowly fading into the human's skin, one that sent a chill down her spine. She felt the drink that she consumed at the confectionery curdle in her stomach at the sight of it, "Damn it, Vakarian you were right… Cerberus is still around." She put her head into one of her hands, leaning on it as she passed the file to the Commander so that she could look at it too. "They just can't die, can they? Fucking hell."

Shepard examined the picture, frowning when she indeed saw the familiar emblem of the group she had once allied herself with, and the group that she was certain she took down. "Well at least we have some clue now of who we're after. It's quite pompous of him to display that emblem, since it's hated by the majority of the galaxy. Didn't most Cerberus personnel have it removed?"

"Officers had the tattoo with a sort of permanent ink. It can't be removed with traditional laser equipment. The ink is primarily metal. I hear it's quite the painful process, something that they started after you took down the Collectors and left Cerberus actually." Her mind ran through all of the information that she had on the process, "Only officers have it as I said, and it allowed Cerberus to track their location. As well as identify when the officer died. It contained information on the individual, and had instructions on where to ship back the body in case of death. Higher level personnel had a tattoo that disappeared once all brain activity stopped. Also, quite the violent process, fortunately they don't have to feel it, being dead and all. It's not like they can have it removed anyway, as most people would call the police if they encountered a member of Cerberus."

"That's true." Shepard looked at the picture more closely, trying to make out any more details. "This is the only shot you were able to get?"

"He shot the camera within seconds, that was the best one I could get unfortunately. At least now we know that it's a human male that was previously, or currently, employed in Cerberus, and likely an officer." He took the file back when it was passed to him, "Though that's a lot of wiggle room. There could be hundred of people that fit that description."

"It's better than we had before, good job Kyre." Ivy stood up, "Well, as for the crew of the Normandy, that's all we have for you. I doubt he'll go back after you so shortly after this, but if you get any clues, please do let us know, and we'll offer you the same respect." She reached out her hand to shake the Commander's, "It was a pleasure to meet you, perhaps next time it could be under better circumstances."

"I agree, perhaps next time you could meet us on the citadel to exchange information. I may have some contacts that could help you out in your search." Liara would know something, being the Shadow Broker. "I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks." The redhead nodded, watching as the members of the Normandy turned and left, and once she was sure they were gone and out of range, "I can't go to the Citadel, so if we ever need to dock there, it'll be up to you two and Ra. Kyre, plot a course for Omega, and then go get some rest. I know you're not feeling well, don't hide it idiot."

"Yes ma'am. I'll set it to take off when Ra arrives." He walked off, heading up towards the cockpit. His walk was slightly more relaxed, and his exhaustion showed. It wasn't often that one got to see a tired Salarian, given that they were always brimming with energy.

Ivy yawned, rubbing her eyes, "Thane you too, go rest… I'm going to wait for Ra to show up crying over the fact that the girl's parents said no." She sat back down, fighting the urge to close her eyes.

He sat down across from her. Humans had a tendency to hurt themselves for the sake of their pride. Actually, they had a tendency to hurt themselves for a lot of reasons. Most of which were completely insane. "Why don't you go rest? You look exhausted. And I know you didn't sleep last night."

"That's none of your business. And I don't sleep when my people need it more, and that includes you. Once everyone is asleep, and the alarms are primed, I will then sleep." She stifled another yawn, not wanting to show how tired she was, especially now that Thane was paying attention, which caused her eyes to water from holding it back. "We'll land at Omega probably two days from now, given the distance between here and the nearest relay."

"I don't rest when my employer is in duress, so forgive me if I stay here to make sure you don't hurt yourself." He folded his arms, arching a brow, "You can't stop calculations for a moment, can you?"

"No I cannot, are you trying something, Krios?" She sat back up, meeting his gaze. "What if I order you to go rest?"

"I'm not trying to start anything, professor. I'm simply saying that my job as an assassin would be pretty void if you were to go and injure yourself. I also made a promise to keep you safe, and I don't break promises."

"Mind telling me who you made that promise to?" She folded her arms, narrowing her eyes at him, refusing to back down. She was tense, he could see it, they was her shoulders were slightly higher than normal, fingers curled against her arms, nails digging into them ever so slightly.

"Nope, Employer confidentiality. What kind of assassin would I be if I went about telling everyone who asked me to complete certain tasks?" He wanted to get her some tea and spike it with a sedative, but he would resist that urge. After all, Ra had told him that Ivy was quite the demon when she was angry.

"Does that mean you'll keep any secret I ask of you?" Her head tilted ever so slightly to the left, lips parted curiously, "No matter how ridiculous?" She noticed him shift nervously, and smirked, starting to laugh, "You're funny, Thane."

"I am?" He stared at her confused, replaying the conversation in his head to find where he possibly said or did anything humorous, and found none. "I don't think I'm very funny."

That was when Ra ran in with the human girl, Emma, "Professor! Her parents said she could come!"

Ivy fell out of her chair, startled by the sudden noise, Thane expecting it and catching her. "You're joking! Did you mention the assassin part?! The pirates?! There is no way they said yes to fucking pirates!" She jumped up, thanks to the Drell's help.

Emma bowed and curtsied, "My parents were members of the Alliance, so they think it would be good for me to be on a ship… And believe me ma'am, I have no intention of fucking a pirate." Ra beside her started to chuckle at her wordplay, and Ivy sighed, shaking her head.  
"Fine, she can stay. Ra, show her around the ship and set her up a cabin. I'm going to check on Kyre, and then I'm going to sleep." She picked up her sniper, and started for the elevator. "Try not to get up to too much trouble, please."

Thane looked at the laughing youngsters, who immediately took off to the elevator. Well at least Ra had a friend around his age now, and having someone else to help would take a lot of stress off of the Turian, who seemingly did a lot for the ship's maintenance.

Certainly this group was becoming a handful.

* * *

He headed up to the cockpit to check on Kyre for himself. It was never good to have a tired pilot, but a Salarian pilot was definitely a plus given how little sleep they actually needed. He peeked through the door to see Kyre alone, standing over his navigation systems, punching in various coordinates. There was no sign of Ivy, so he stepped in knocking on the door gently as he did, as to not give the man a heart attack. "Feeling any better?"

"Slightly, I haven't used my biotics in over a year, so when I did, it sent me into some strange form of shock. I'll be better after a short rest though." He punched in the final coordinate, "You should rest too, I don't think your body is fully recovered yet." He passed him a glass of water from the cooler.

He took a sip, nodding in thanks, "Did Ivy come up to see you?"

"No, something amiss?"

Thane shook his head, putting the glass down. He wouldn't say any more, but something was indeed amiss.

She lied, and so she was hiding something. He was going to find out what.


	6. Regret

It wasn't that hard to find the Professor, but getting caught, or injured was entire another story.

She certainly could kick. Thane sat outside the door, peering into the gym, watching the woman pulverise a punching bag. Her stance was solid, there was no way she would be brushed away like a fly, despite her stature. The only thing he could really criticise was that she was still wearing that sarong from the beach. It obviously wasn't impeding her movements, thanks to the slit on the side, but who fights in a sarong?

He leaned back against the wall for a moment, taking a deep breath. He was tired as well, not that he's admit that, even to himself. He didn't notice when the sound of the bag being beaten stopped, and footsteps lightly echoed towards him.

"Spying, are you?" Ivy said, her hands on her hips, arms covered in sweat, and abrasions from where she had missed the bag, the seem of it having scratched her skin. "If I didn't know you better I'd call you a pervert, but I'll still call you a creep."

The Drell stood up, legs aching. This must be the recovery process he was hearing so much about. "I am neither such thing, just concerned for your well being. You said you were going to bed after you spoke to Kyre, of which you're doing neither." He could make out the small beads of perspiration on her forehead, the bags under her eyes clearly visible. Despite that, she still looked so put together. So in control. "Something is on your mind."

"Maybe it is. I won't tell you though. I'm kinda busy, if you couldn't tell." She turned back into the gym, feet falling silently on the mat. She tilted her neck to stretch, ignoring when she heard him enter the room behind her. "You don't have to babysit me, you know." She put her right leg behind her left, and began to kick at the bag with even more force than before. Thane was sure she would bruise her shin if she kept it up.

Bruised shins sucked.

He walked over and caught her leg mid-air, surprised when she didn't fall, and relieved. At least if she was in a fight and someone tried to block her by grabbing her leg, she wouldn't lose her balance. "You're going to injure yourself. And hitting a non moving object repeatedly won't help you long term. It's good for the basics, but that's it." He released her leg, and she simply crossed her arms.

"What are you suggesting I do then?"

"Other than go to sleep? Or at least talk about what's bothering you? I could spar with you." The response he earned was a near kick to the face, had he not ducked. "Well, slow down there. You'll sprain something." He smirked, letting her try to hit him.

"Maybe you should get a face guard so I don't injure that perfect little smile of yours!" She reached out of a solid punch to his face,but her grabbed her arm and flung her to the ground.

"Quick with words, slow with dodging."

She rubbed her shoulder and got up, "Well forgive me for preferring words to violence."

"Well let's at least test your defence." He swung out a punch, not full force, and she caught his fist, with her left hand, swinging for him with her right, which he dodged out of the way, having to fling himself to the ground, rolling back up. He swung around on his hands, kicking her to the ground from the back of her knee, and she did indeed fall that time.

She was on the ground for at least two seconds when she got up, going to kick for him again, determination in her eyes. He decided he would let her land a hit, when he saw her left leg slide out of her skirt to land a kick, and he couldn't help but catch it mid swing, staring at her upper thigh.

A black diamond.

She didn't notice how he was staring at her leg, and let herself fall to the ground, swinging her right leg around to the back of his knees, pulling him to the ground, making him lose his grip on her leg, but she didn't account for him pinning her arms above her head. She looked at him confused, surprised by the amount of force he was holding her down with, let alone with a single hand. "Thane?"

He closed his eyes, replaying the moment in his head, making sure he had seen what he had. "You worked… for Cerberus."

She struggled, kicking for him to let go, "Don't you bring that up! Don't you dare!" She glared at him, chest rising and falling rapidly in pure fury, but tears rose to her eyes, "Don't you dare." She stopped her futile struggle, not holding back her tears, whispering quietly from behind the sobs, "Don't…"

He shook his head as he opened his eyes, staring into hers, "You worked for that… Terrorist organisation. It just seems.. So unlike you. I can't see you doing that. You're on a ship with a Salarian and a Turian, and me. I can't see you as some kind of Xenophobe." He didn't let her go, and looked down to the tattoo on her thigh. It was really there. He hadn't been imagining it.

"I was young. I needed resources. Cerberus gave them to me, that was it… I got the lab I needed. Do you know what it was like? Growing up with on a poor colony, my parents died in a mine accident. In those colonies you can't go to school if your parents don't work. They wouldn't let me… They wouldn't let me learn any more. I couldn't even check a book out of a damn library. There was a teacher… who would let me into her class. It was way below my level, but I did with it. I tried everything… I never got above an elementary education… But… One day…" Her eyes fogged up, as if remembering something terribly confusing, something she didn't quite understand, "I made some formula I think… For the cellular breakdown caused by the lack of oxygen after death… And she saw it. I think she was the one who contacted Cerberus. They took me in, and gave me a lab, a team. I worked under some haughty German woman who thought she was everything, until I showed her up and got her job when I was fourteen. From there I had to figure everything out myself. I was twelve. I didn't know they were some terrorist group! I just had a clean bed, warm food, and books. I could learn for the first time in my life since my parents had died. I… I loved it. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be who I am today if it wasn't for them. I might even be dead. My colony was one of those taken in the collector attacks…" She looked away from him, embarrassed to finally admit it all to someone, "That bastard is with Cerberus. I let him get away."

He sighed, loosening his grip on her wrists, "I'm sorry. It wasn't your fault, it still isn't. When did you leave them?"

"I was twenty-six when Shepard took them out, that was when I left. I saw what we did to the other council races, and I refused to stay. I should have known sooner. I had my nose buried too deep in my data to look at what was going on around in the galaxy around me. I barely knew what happened with the Geth, and then after that with the collectors, except for what could help me with my research. I regret that more than anything. I could have helped. I could have done something, anything." Her lips shook with the oncoming sob she tried to hold back, "I've always cherished my intelligence. But all it's done is get me into trouble. I-" She was interrupted by his lips on hers, Thane swallowing her sobs, able to taste the salty tears on her lips.

He parted from her when he felt her relax, the tears had stopped flowing from her eyes, "Your past makes you who you are. You didn't let it ruin you, it's made you stronger. I respect that." He pulled down the slit of her sarong to cover her thigh, and the tattoo, "Don't cry over your strengths. Don't worry about the things you could have done, that's over. Think about what you can do, what you will do, and what you're doing. You're going to stop that assassin, and you're very likely going to take down whatever is left of Cerberus." He reached up to tuck the hair that was sliding into her face behind her ears gently. "You're not a scared girl on a little colony any more, realise who you are now, how others see you."

Her heart fluttered, hearing nothing but his words, eyes searching his, as if that would give her any sort of deeper meaning. But at that moment she didn't want to analyse anything. She didn't want to study those words for more than what they were, and she wrapped her arms around his neck shyly, letting herself blush brightly, the hue almost matching the shade of her hair. "How exactly do others see me? How do… You… See me?"

"I have nothing but compliments to describe you, Ivy. You're a proud and intelligent woman who won't give an inch for what she believes in. You're very careful, and strive for nothing but absolute perfection, it shows in your work, and how you present yourself. You give everything you have to be an example to others, sometimes you give more than you're capable of, more than you can take, definitely more than it would take to break a normal person. Ivy… You're extraordinary." He couldn't take his eyes off of hers, as if he were swimming in her soul. He saw something this time that he had never seen in her eyes before, weakness. She was letting herself be weak in front of him.

"Thane… I…" She reached her hand up to stroked his face, wanting more than anything to kiss him in that moment.

"I admire you, Ivy-"

"Hey Professor-" Ra froze in the doorway, eyes widening in complete shock, "Oh my goddess I am so sorry. Wait, what are you doing?! EW!"

The pair froze in complete terror, not having any words to explain their position, or how they had even gotten into that position. It seemed like such a blur to both of them, it had all happened so quickly.

But that wouldn't stop Ivy from trying, and she flung a small weight at Ra, "Get your head out of the gutter, we were sparring!" That didn't hide the blush on her cheeks though, not only was she blushing from Thane's words, but now the embarrassment of having been caught.

"Yes, because that's exactly what sparring looks like!" He covered his eyes, "I'm going to have nightmares for weeks now!"

Thane quickly helped Ivy to her feet, shaking his head as if it would clear his thoughts. "We really sparring, you could check for bruises if you like. I would hate to have shamed the Professor's honour with a simple duel."

"No thank you, I'm no checking for anything, that's just gross. Get a room! I just wanted to let you know we were taking off for Omega." He lowered his hands from his eyes, not making eye contact with either of them, far too embarrassed. "Kyre is asleep. I set Emma up in a room too, she's likely asleep right now. You two should head to sleep as well, hopefully in separate rooms. Please, separate rooms. Please. That's just gross."

Ivy nodded, "Alright Ra, head on to bed yourself."

"I will, ugh, gross." He turned around and headed off down the hallway, trying to clear his head of the images popping up in them. Sentient species just had no self control it seemed to him, just like animals.

Ivy turned to Thane once he was gone, "Sorry, I'm ah… Gonna…"

"Why don't you go shower and go to bed, I'm going to do the same." Perhaps it was best that they had been interrupted when they had, or else it may have gone too far, and one of them, or both, would have ended up getting hurt.

"I mean… Thank you. The things you said… Really… really helped." She closed her eyes, taking his hands, "I should have been more honest with you. I'll… I'll talk to you later." She let his hands go, heading out of the doors, shutting them behind her. He watched her go, trying to block out the pain it caused him to see her turn her back on him. Shepard was right, he was falling for her.

* * *

He did get that shower, and headed to his room. The entire time he had been replaying the scene from the gym in his head, too trapped in it. He always stopped right before Ra interrupted them, wondering every time where it would have gone from there. He sat down on his bed, looking around at the room. He still had yet to send a picture to Kolyat as he promised. He turned around to look out the window, taking out his omnitool to snap a picture of the stars, writing a note as well.

" _Kolyat,_

 _Today, we almost caught the assassin that has been taking out the spectres. I'm afraid I can't say more that that, in case this message gets caught somewhere, you know how it is, working for C-Sec now._

 _But we did run into Shepard and the other members of the Normandy, well, some of them. It was really good to see them well. Chasing that assassin down with them brought back plenty of memories. It's good to know that they still have skills with their weapons, it let's me know they'll be safe. So you be sure to keep the Citadel safe._

 _Kolyat, I think I may be in over my head again, but this time it has no connection to the mission. I don't want to say any more than that, but know that I am safe, and I'm doing my part to make sure the Citadel and the council stays safe. I never was one for a desk job anyway._

 _-Thane Krios"_

He had just finished sending the message when he heard the soft patter of feet outside his door. The movement stopped and started again, as if the person on the other end was being indecisive. He got up to go towards his door to listen. The footsteps got closer to the door, and stopped, and he could make out the quietest tap, and the footsteps started to pace again. He opened the door slowly to see Ivy pacing back and forth, thumb in her mouth, seemingly in very deep thought. "Yes, Ivy?"

She practically jumped when his voice reached her ears, spinning to face him, "Ah, you're awake, I wasn't sure if you were… I just wanted to talk… I figured you deserve to know the truth… About just what had me so upset earlier…" Her hands were fidgeting nervously, not looking at him, "If you're not too tired."

"Not at all, I was just writing to Kolyat." He held the door open for her. leading her in, watching her sit on the bed as he leaned on the wall, studying her. She had obviously been thinking about coming clean with it, it was written on her face. He moved closer, sitting beside her, "If you don't want to say anything, you don't have to. You can talk when you're ready."

"If I don't do it now, I never will." She looked at her hands, which were now folded neatly atop her lap, "I was upset mainly because I let him get away, before I even knew he was Cerberus. I miscalculated. Had I not noticed my error then, if I was just a few seconds later, Garrus, Kaidan, and you would be dead. If I had noticed sooner, we may have been able to stop him from escaping, we may have been able to save even a few more lives. Now that he's out there he's going to kill a few more spectres, I'm sure of it. It'll be months before we're able to find him again, and it's my fault… Because I wasn't thinking clearly." Because she had been too petty to let herself fall for him. She did what she was willing to push him away, and even then it didn't work. "Because I was falling for you and I didn't want to admit it to myself."

He opened his mouth to speak, until her final sentence left his mouth, and he bit back his words. "If you hadn't noticed when you did, I would be dead, that's very true. Which is why I'm so unbelievably thankful that you realised when you did. Don't blame yourself for what happened, Ivy, our opponent is clever, very clever." He reached over to put his hands on top of hers, watching her eyes light up, "But given you came back to me after our little… accident… You're admitting it to yourself now."

"I am… I fell in love with you before we even met. Reading your files, trying to get an idea of who you really were. Hearing the stories Kolyat told… You're an even greater person than I imagined you'd be… I don't know what this is, or what we'll make this out to be, but what now, it means a lot to me… I want to be here, with you, more than anything in the world right now, and it's driving me absolutely insane. I've only known you for a few days! It's completely illogical… I don't understand. This is something I don't understand." She scanned his eyes for some sort of answer, something she could grasp to pull herself out of her pit of confusion, but all she found was more questions in his deep black eyes. "Thane I…"

"You really have me at a disadvantage here, you've known me longer than I've known you." He laughed as he kissed her for the second time, falling with her as she leaned back onto the bed, wrapping her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss with what little muscle she had in her arms. "But you have only showed me how wonderful of a person you are… It… It's hard to explain."

"You don't have to explain it, all I need to know is that you want to be here with me."

"I do, I do want to be here… And I also want to tell you that this night gown of yours is absolutely ridiculous, this shade of pink makes you look twelve and it's throwing my head in circles." He smiled, laughing slightly at her, kissing the growing smile on her lips.

"Perhaps you could help me take it off then, I'm sure you'll be far less confused then." She reached up to kiss his neck, sucking gently on it, leaving gentle bites, taking an arm off of him to pull her hair out of her bun, watching his eyes follow her hand. "Never seen my hair down?"

He met her hand in her hair, running his fingers through it, "I have not… It's so long…" He leaned in to smell it, kissing down her neck, exploring every little niche he could, feeling her humid breath in his ear. His fingers fumbled down each button of her dress, her hands guiding him, his head spinning in complete euphoria. When they finally got the last button he pulled her up to slide the dress off of her,his hands then wrapping around her waist to pull her as close as he could, as if he could swallow her entirely from his kisses.

His nightclothes were far for more simple for her to remove, she didn't need guidance to find the band tied around his waist that was holding it all together, and simply untied it, the cotton falling off his shoulders. She moaned as he nipped at her neck, throwing her head back to give him as much room as he could, wanting to feel him all over her at the same time, her skin burning with every touch, hopefully from lust and not a developing rash. "Thane…" She let his name escape her lips, soaked with her lust, blushing as it did.

Hearing his name in such a manner drove him wild, causing him to bite her collarbone, making her moan again, arching herself towards him, "Yes?" He asked, looking up at her face, meeting her eyes as he licked up her neck.

"I want you."

That was all she needed to say to tell him to give her the best night of her life, which he did, and he would consider that night he spent in her arms to be the best night of his life for the longest time. Because even if she forgot about them, he would always remember it, how she spoke his name. Every inch of skin that she clawed into with those perfect crimson nails of hers. Every kiss she planted on him.

He would never forget.


	7. Cradle

When Thane awoke, back sore from the previous night's escapades, he didn't find Ivy in his arms where he distinctly remembered her being when he fell asleep. He jolted up, wincing as he did. Every muscle fiber in his body groaned in contempt. If the recovery process wasn't what he had been feeling before, this was it now.

He managed to sit on the edge of the bed, rubbing his temples in small tight circles before rising to his feet to grab a towel. He slipped into a robe, throwing the towel over his shoulder as he scanned the room for any signs of her. Her clothing was gone, but something felt strange. He doubted she would suddenly leave, let alone without waking him up in the process.

After his shower he put on a black high collared synthetic leather jacket, similar to the ones he used to wear, but this one had elaborate red trimming, seemingly of Elchor design, with pants to match. He kept his same boots, there would be no need to run in shoes that were chaffing his feet due to being new. That being said, each step felt like he had run quite a few miles too many the previous day. He needed pain relievers, but he wouldn't want the drugs to cloud his judgement in case of emergency.

"Thane, the Miss is… quite busy at the moment in the cockpit." He could hear Ra say from behind him, and spun around on the heels of his boots to face him. Ra looked worried, the way his mandibles were clenched slightly tighter to his jawline than usual. How he was trying to avoid Thane's gaze, "She's with Kyre, she won't let me in even to bring them water. Whatever it is, it's important. I think something with Omega, I managed to hear that much… I know she doesn't like me to know things so I don't worry… But i worry more when I'm left in the dark…" He sighed, shaking his head, "I'm sure those two will be able to fix whatever it is… but…"

Thane walked up and put a gentle hand on the Turian's shoulder, "You worry about the ship, I'll worry about it's crew. Okay?" Ra was usually quite giddy, it bothered Thane to see him this way, "If there's something wrong in Omega, I have contacts who could figure out what it is."

Ra lowered his head, looking to his feet, "I want to help too... "

"Ra… They need you here, where there is no fighting. They need you to always be someone they can come back to when they need it most."

"What if… What if one day they don't come back." He looked up to Thane, tears swelling in his eyes, "What if someone takes them from me, what do I do then!"

"Then you honour them for the work they will have done for this galaxy. You make sure they are not forgotten, because you're right. They'll eventually leave, all people do, but it's the memories of them that stay here in this world that tell us who they really were." He looked the Turian over, his suit had pieces of dust trapped in its joints. He'd been cleaning the air vents, perhaps that was how he'd heard the little he had, "Alright?"

He rubbed the tears out of his eyes before they could fall down his face, "I promise."

"Good, stay strong. Have you heard of Garrus Vakarian?"

"Of course sir, there isn't a Turian alive who hasn't heard of Vakarian." His eyes sparkled at the mention of his hero's name. He'd seen him briefly, but he didn't get time to recognise who he was back on Erroz. "He's what every Turian wants to be!"

"You'll be like him one day." Thane smiled, patting on the shoulder again to take the elevator down to the cockpit, leaning on the elevator wall as the doors shut, and Ra ran off to find Emma, who was cleaning the windows, humming to herself, eager to see more of the stars.

Thane ignored his stomach growling as he approached the cockpit's doors, knowing firmly on it. He heard Ivy and Kyre suddenly quiet themselves before Kyre cleared his throat, "Ra, we don't need any water, we have a cooler in here."

"It's Thane." He said, and suddenly the door wheezed open and Ivy stared at him, hands on her hips.

"You should be resting." She pulled him in and shut the doors again, "But knowing you that was far too much to hope." She looked back to an orange holographic table between herself and Kyre. The orange didn't match the rest of the display panels in the room, or any of the display panels that Thane had seen aboard the firebird. All of the ones he had observed were different shades of blue, the ones in the cockpit were a hue of brilliant cerulean, and aboard the rest of the ship shone a deep shade of Asari Blue. Her fingers floated delicately over it, as which deciding which of the incoherent shapes was the most important. "I don't understand… Kyre."

"I don't get it either… but we have to keep trying…" He stared at it as if his head would pop, not even blinking.

"Fill in Thane, I'm thinking." She walked around the panel as if seeing it from a different angle would help, but instead her brow became more furrowed as she circled it, perplexed by the puzzle before her.

"Thane. Phoenix's contact on Omega sent us this, it's heavily encrypted, and our computers can't cipher it. It's meant for a manual decryption, but we can't seem to crack it." He leaned his head into his hands, eyes fixed on the pattern before him. "Maybe it's a maze, you know the ones you play as children?"

"I tried that, remember? The more I look at it, the less it makes sense!" She bit her lip, mind racing for an answer, "I don't understand. What if they're just messing with us."

"They wouldn't send a genius something only a genius could solve unless it was meant only for that genius, there would be no point to encrypting it manually, they could use fake computer jargon that wouldn't analyse properly." Thane stepped over to get a better look, the puzzle before him making no sense at all. "Have you asked Ra?"

Kyre shook his head, "We don't like to get Ra involved in these things, the less he has to worry about the better." He narrowed his eyes, moving some of the shapes around, but when it yielded no result, he moved them back. "We've tried everything."

"You should let him help." He looked to Ivy, who was far too focused on the puzzle before her to hear anything that he was saying. She looked so completely trapped in it, like her mind wouldn't let her consider anything else until she had completed the task before her, "Ivy."

"Thane, he's a kid. He may be an adult because of his age, but I'm not putting him in any risk until he's completely ready to defend himself if there are repercussions. I don't even like him leaving the ship to be quite honest." She closed her eyes, but remained in her position, when she opened her eyes she would resume with her work, but it almost looked like she was trying to burn the pattern of the puzzle into her memory. "He's had enough taken from him, I don't want to take away his freedom as well. The moment he becomes an active Firebird agent, the moment he works for Phoenix too. They'll own him like they own Kyre and me, and as much as I enjoy working under Phoenix, I despise working under people. We're training him here so that he can go and help the Galaxy when he is ready, and right now-"

"Ivy, give him a chance. He's ready, he wants to help. I can't help you with this, and you're stuck. Kyre said it himself, Ra is brilliant. And a fresh pair of genius eyes is what you need for this…" His eyes looked to the glowing orange holographic table, "Mess."

Ivy sighed, head hanging in defeat, "Perhaps we have been sheltering him a bit too much… He is an adult now…"

Kyre snapped up, looking at her, completely startled, worry and fear embedded in his eyes, "Ivy you can't be serious…"

"It's a matter of time before he grows to think himself completely useless, or that we hate him." She shook her head, looking up to the Lystheni, "We have to, especially if we want to figure this out before we get to Omega."

"He doesn't even know… What if he goes out there and finds out?"

"...Then he'll hate us, or forgive us. That's not a problem right now." She sighed and opened the door with a single touch of a button, set to read her fingerprints, "Ra!"

The boy was up there in an instant, as if he had been waiting to be summoned. Which in truth, he had, along with a tall glass of water, "I brought you water, finally need it?" He smiled, setting it down on the countertop behind Ivy, surprisingly not spilling a drop, "I also have lemons, I know you like to put those in your water, and Kyre for some odd reason puts sugar in it sometimes, which is gross, but I brought some sugar anyway, I also just started making some biscuits-"

Ivy shook her head, now unsure of her decision, "Then go turn the oven off, we need you for something else-"

"Cookies? Something to clean up? Mechanical malfunction?" He looked around for any sign of a problem, not seeing any, ignoring the orange glow in between his pseudo-parents, " I don't understand, nothing seems to be amiss."

"We… I… Need help with a puzzle." She sighed, blushing in shame. She, Ivy Koi, needed help with a matter of intellect? it was completely absurd.

"Miss, you don't need my help for a puzzle." He smiled brightly, pouring her a glass of water, "Perhaps you're simply tired, and don't have a clear head." He passed her the glass, looking at her face when she didn't take it from him, and he set it back down, "You also look flushed, are you sick? What's your temperature? Do humans even get fevers when they get sick?" Ra put his gloved hand, which was quite dirty and covered in dust, to Ivy's forehead, the dust causing her to sneeze, "You are sick!"

"No you Nimrod, just look at this damn puzzle for me!" She yelled, pointing at it, "I can't do it and I-!" She took a shaky deep breath, her chest quivering as it fell from anger, in a desperate attempt to calm herself down. "Help me."

Ra looked to the orange glow before them, and laughed, "You know, you don't need to go to such extremes to make me feel like I'm helping, especially with a ploy as obvious as this." He put his hands over the table, tracing and rearranging some of the lines, smiling, "This is a game I used to play as a kid, I think humans call it Cat's Cradle."

Ivy looked between the Turian and the board, "That's not Cat's Cradle, and that is certainly not a children's game!" She watched Ra's hands rearrange the lines, she had been doing it wrong all along. She was focusing on the shapes left by the lines themselves, instead of the actual objective, "You have got to be kidding me." She watched his fingers move deftly over the hologram, rearranging the lines so that none crossed in the middle, and the rest traced the hexagon in which they were trapped in. "You didn't recognise it because of the six points most likely, but we Turians only have six fingers, so… I can tell you designed this for me to feel important, but it's not necessary… Really."

Ivy leaned over the now completed encryption, tucking her hair behind her ears. Thane now noticed that it was still down from last night, "It was so obvious, and I overlooked it this whole time…" She paused, shaking her head in denial, "I'm an idiot."

"You mean… This was real?" Ra pointed to it, baffled by the tone in her voice, something he had never heard from her before and that he couldn't really identify. "You couldn't solve this?"

"I couldn't solve that." She closed her eyes, "Now Kyre and I-" She looked at Ra, packing up the tray, leaving the water there for them, "Where are you going?" She watched him quizzically, it looked to her as if he were leaving.

"Well I know you and Kyre like to do these things on your own-"

Kyre interrupted, making eye contact with Thane just before he spoke,"You're old enough now, there's no need for any more secrets." He still looked terribly uncomfortable with it. He didn't want to see Ra grow up, he didn't want to see him put in danger. "You solved a problem neither of us could, that proves you're an asset to the team and that you should be working with us."

Ra set the tray down, eyes wide in shock, "You really think… Will Phoenix accept me? What if they don't want me?"

"Believe me, they'll want you, Ra, So why don't you do the honours of opening up that message?" Ivy stepped over to Ra, putting a hand on his shoulder as Kyre sat down in the pilot's chair, an unusual sight, ready to take off depending on the contents of the message. Usually a heavily encrypted message was not a good sign, it mean that there were possible leaks in a group's security systems.

"Alright." Ra stepped over to the hologram, shaking slightly in excitement. He took a deep breath as he tapped the now glowing blue dot in the centre of the cradle that he had untangled. "To Turians, cradles often mean traps according to our folklore."

A code designed for a Turian to solve. A puzzle related to their folklore.

"Attention crew of the Firebird, due to your recent activities on Erroz, your crew is no longer recognised as members of the Phoenix organization." Ivy froze in complete terror, covering her mouth and growing pale. "Your ship will be confiscated at the next hub world you dock at." Kyre stared at the hologram completely stunned, unable to process what he was hearing, "And you will be sent back to the Citadel for a hearing as well as the official revocation of your Phoenix privileges." Ra looked at his mentors confused, wondering what was happening, "We thank you for your service however in light of recent actions your positions will be terminated. Please pack your belongings as The Firebird will now autopilot to the nearest hub world, Omega. In the event that you attempt to override the systems, or there is a mechanical malfunction, you will be tracked by our Loss Prevention Team and terminated forcefully, and you will receive no trial to explain your actions and your ship will be tossed into the nearest star. Have a wonderful day."


End file.
